retiredmartin

Because you’re worth it (you’re not) a bonus post from boring Buckinghamshire, courtesy of Mrs RM’s glamarous IT job. Hurrah! According to the Great Spreadsheet, I’d never been to a pub in Chalfont before. The posh area north of Uxbridge on the A413 is a bit of a mystery, though presumably it’ll be a regular… Continue reading WHAT’S GOING FASTEST IN CHALFONT ST. PETER?

Back to my favourite subjects. Cask quality, Spoons and those CAMRA discounts we’ve been fighting so hard for since 1971. The Resolution is very much the 3rd Spoons in Middlesbrough, the one that never makes the Beer Guide, the one the ladies singing “I Touch Myself” move onto at 11pm. As you can see, it’s… Continue reading SPOONS CASK WOE GOES ON AND ON

A night out in Middlesbrough. You Southerners (south of Stoke) don’t know what you’re missing. Great architecture, overlooked Art Deco masterpieces, and inflatable sheep. No new Guide pubs in ‘Boro for a while, the micro boom of 2014-16 has subsided. BUT your CAMRA membership not only allows you to enter pointless arguments about broccoli on… Continue reading BACK IN PARMOLAND FOR KARAOKE

From the charm and sophistication of Somerset to the charm and sophistication of Middlesbrough in one swift seven hour detour up the A1. I’d been away from the True North for too long. At least a week. First time in Guisborough since 2006, when we travelled from Whitby for what Michael Winner would have called… Continue reading A MONK IN GUISBOROUGH

The last pub on my first excursion of the Summer into Zummerzet had been on my list for years. A short hop from Taunton, a safe distance from the terrors of Bridgwater, tucked into the Blackdown Hills, home of 97 year old landladies and Otter. I hoped I might get Otter in the Lamb and… Continue reading CIDER & SKITTLES

Enough of this live blogging from Manhattan. Back to the knitting. Chucking duff halves of Otter in plant pots in Somerset. Note the exclusive video evidence. It gets a bit dull after 5 seconds, as I forgot to turn off the camera, but you get the idea. Hands up who knew where Somerton is? I’m… Continue reading SECRET GARDENS FOR BEER CHUCKING

Just for the Prof, a live blog from the heart of Manhattan, and his recommended Bass stop.“You’ll like it” says the Prof. And I do. Mid-70s US pop and the Stones plain white table cloths, relaxed feel, the Jicks on the screens, art on the ceiling.Mrs RM just said” Am I drinking your Bass?”And she… Continue reading Live Blogging from the Ear, NYC

I may have missed out on the Beer & Pubs Forum Trip to Uttoxeter, but a week on I was in that other weirdly named racing town that only seems to exist in sports bulletins. Quite why there’s a cow on their sign, rather than a horsey, is beyond me. Mind, at 54, I’ve still… Continue reading WINCANTON WINS AT A CANTER

Wiltshire has fallen. So, onto Somerset, a key county in my quest to emulate the Pubmeister and Do The Guide. I’ve only recently made it past halfway, and beyond lies the terrors of Devon. With flaky public transport and duff opening hours, every trip out here on the A303 justifies a couple of nights away.… Continue reading “A TOWN CALLED MALICE” ON A TINNY SOMERSET HI-FI